The hungry ghost inside

In the comments to Dogen’s “Instruction for the Zen Cook”  Uchiyama Roshi mentions frustration with his own inability to chase away “hungry ghosts” when he started serving as a tenzo in the end of 1940s. At the time food was scarce so I imagine talking of “hungry ghosts” was more than a figure of speech.

Ango: what is my eyeball now?

So what resonated with me during and especially after our first webinar with Dosho and other sous-chefs of this Ango? First of all, I felt inspired by the energy of the group and the willingness to see how the words of Dogen could apply in our own lives. Having participated in a few webinars with

Practicing by means of collective power

In the presentation part of the warming-up webinar Dosho quoted Dogen-zenji on the benefits of practicing in a community: Although the color of the flowers is beautiful, they do not bloom of themselves; they need the spring breeze to open. The conditions of the Way are also like this; although the Way is complete in

when wild things are (playing with the demons)

The purpose of our Buddhist practice is to learn to see things as they are which also includes seeing all sides of ourselves as they are. How is that working out for you? Me, I am having great difficulty in the all sides of myself- area. Often I was told what I should be like

What did the monk see that he expressed by bowing?

(day ??) The time to express our understanding is near. On Saturday we are invited by Dosho to meet him in a Dharma battle and answer the simple question: What did the monk see that he expressed by bowing? Yeah… ” “

Ango update

(day ??) Another giving webinar with Dosho and the Ango- team and the work is going deeper. Dosho is inviting us to recognise our emotional and cognitive patterns using the questions tied to Genjokoan and to the dynamics of the group. What I look for right now are the particular techniques that can be used

Ango: jealousy feels like this

(day ??) These days I’ve been paying attention to how easy it is for me to start believing my own thoughts and feelings and get identified with them. If I ask my friend to show me a photograph of her family, I know this is a picture of the family, not the family itself. Yet

Ango update (day ??)

There has been a dive in everything that has to do with the formal side of the practice. I haven’t done zazen in a few days, missed today’s webinar without any good reason and… had some cider last night! Can it be that I am making up for the rebelious days if my youth that

Ango update: …they all go into the dark

T S Elliot provided a perfect capping phrase for the past week: “ O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark.” Looking for those forks in the toilet is not entirely an easy business. Once I see it there, there is a question to deal with: NOW WHAT? Sitting became a challenge once

Ango update: la solitudine dei numeri primi

The capping phrase for this week has been “solitude of prime numbers”, the English translation of the title of Paulo Giordano’s book “La solitudine dei numeri primi”. Prime numbers are inherently solitary: they can only be divided by themselves and by one. They don’t really fit with other numbers but still they are part of